I’ve never owned a uConsole before but I’ve been looking it up and all the upgrades available for it for a while and have grown very interested in owning one. As an aspiring pentester, I definitely want mine to be modded with every bit of kit possible like all the antennas and the best cooling solutions for hacking on the go.
So I thought I’d share my wishlist for your feedback as, chances are, there may have been some things I overlooked or maybe other things I should reconsider, etc.
The Omega Chassis Ultimate Build Guide: Now I’m aware that you don’t actually buy the chassis but, rather, a guide of parts to order to put it together. I was asking around on the Discord server for what the best cooling solutions are and I was pointed towards the Omega Chassis which was more than what I bargained for. If I ever finally get around to putting it together, I’m thinking of also installing a Raspberry Pi camera. I think 8 antennas would be more than enough for my needs anyway unless anyone can convince me otherwise (You never know when you might need a camera on a portable cyberdeck)
Upgrade Kit from HackerGadgets: To be specific, I want to order…
Raspberry Pi CM5 Adapter Board (At first, I was drawn to the Radxa CM5’s superior specs but opting for the Omega Chassis and having a Raspberry Pi camera added on made me reconsider it. Though if the dev updated the guide to include the Radxa CM5 and an equivalent camera addon…)
NVMe Battery Board (Considering the Omega Chassis guide gets you to install a three-cell battery holder, should I go for the NVMe board without a battery holder?)
AIO V2 (Apparently, I have to order the mounting kit and antennas separately? Am also gonna get a 3D printed mount for the antennas)
RJ45 & USB 3.0 Expansion
AC1200 Wi-Fi Card: Also gonna get a 3D printed holder for the card
Upgrade Kit from Hack2You
V2.0.1 Keyboard and Trackpad
Aluminum CNC Front
3D Printed Light Armor: Includes flip-up screen cover, bottom bumper and stand that covers the side ports
As for operating systems, so far I’m planning to use interchangeable 256GB micro SD cards each installed with Kali Linux, DragonOS and Parrot OS that I will switch between according to my needs. What will I use in the NVMe slot? I’m thinking an 8TB SSD containing a massive Kiwix library, offline GPS, a huge library of survival guides and even LLM models for an offline AI assistant which I can access from any distro and thus use the uConsole as an emergency off-the-grid computer.
The radxa’s extra power doesn’t make up for the lack of a community around them.
You’ll likely need to compile and maintain your own kernel with the radxa.
Currently there are no working images for the radxa that support all the screen revisions in the uconsole and while that can change in the time you’re waiting I wouldn’t bet on it
if i have the money im gona try radxa for the extra juice and vetter video gpu but witout support and lack of hardware its a big step into doom, im happy enogth with mods i already did to my uconsole but take care with 3.5 audio jack arel ittle fagille and the stock track ball sucks
Regarding the Omega Chassis. Some struggles with order parts may be due to shipping issues. I do help to ensure you are able to make it (last option) - the intention is the package is fully self-supportable so no reseller is necessary to replicate the work. Most of the builders are able to make it & customise it based on their own preference.
A new feature upgrade is coming in ~a week. All owners receive the upgrades free. I am personally excited. Heads down to wrap up the work.
I’ll keep it under wraps until it’s ready in a week - it’s very soon as I am working on guide now! I’m rolling out updates gradually and then putting together a complete update once I’ve checked that everything works as expected. This way, you’ll get the same build and sourcing experience as I’m aiming for.
The tricky part is that I’m trying to keep things low profile & compact, but it’s tempting to just make it bigger - that would be too easy. So, you can imagine how much I’ve had to think about the trade-offs and why we’re not doing something else. I am also conscious that all things you buy needs to be somewhat supported generally, so that your investment for the rest is compatible with the chassis.
Another example, the 3 cells 18650 battery featured a changing design to achieve a consistent low-profile. It incorporated three cells alongside existing M2 NVMe, USB-C slots and a removable back cover. 3 cells act as battery pack, so if you need more juice then simply bringing more battery pack with you - or a USB-C battery pack would be better in modern world to charge other devices as well. Same design support LiPos; Unlike other designs, its magnet location was precisely engineered to minimise electronic noise that affecting nearby circuits.
Balancing the need to keep things simple and full-featured is a real challenge.
I received my uConsole a couple of months ago. It does pretty much what I wanted but I’m disappointed with how often keypresses are missed. This is compared to my GPD MicroPC which now that it is 5 years old registers extra keypresses! The uConsole keyboard has better backlighting though, it’s great the level of backlighting is adjustable (I use my uConsole for reading/web browsing in bed)
… so I support your decision to get the Hack2You upgrade kit.
